Oops! Wrong Lab Rats!
by Chadini
Summary: There is a misunderstanding with Hodges' Lab Rats Game. Hodges, Henry, Catherine and Brass. Potential spoilers for season 8 and set after “You Kill Me.” The prompt for this story is LV Metro Event Code 406a Burglary Alarm.


**Characters:** Hodges, Henry, Brass and a little Catherin

**Summary: **There is a misunderstanding about Hodges' Lab Rats game.

**Disclaimer:** None of the characters are mine and if CBS wants to come after me, well, as long as they bring David Rambo, I don't care.

**A/N: **Potential spoilers for season 8 and set after "You Kill Me." The prompt for this story is LV Metro Event Code 406a Burglary Alarm. Thanks to princessklutz04 for the beta chop skills.

* * *

Sitting in an interrogation room at police headquarters, Henry groaned into his hands, "We are so completely screwed."

"No, we're not," Hodges soothed while putting his hand on Henry's shoulder. "Just be cool and follow my lead."

Catching Henry's attention, he nearly shouted back at Hodges, "How can you say that? This isn't cool. My entire career is shot and I'm going to be forced to spend the rest of my

time as a shuffleboard coach with my Nana!"

"Shuffleboard? Really? Look, I'll handle everything," Hodges said while motioning to himself.

"Isn't that what got us into trouble in the first place?" Henry whined.

As Brass walked into the room, both men reverted to 8 year old boys that had just gotten caught with their hands in the cookie jar. "OK guys, your supervisor is on her way and she'll be here shortly."

Hodges, in a panic, barely squeaked out, "Please tell, me it isn't Grissom, because really, he doesn't need to be bothered with something like this."

Before Brass could respond, Henry realized that it wasn't Grissom that was coming to get them. 'Wait, you said _her _way. _She'll _be here shortly."

"Nothing gets by you guys," Brass chuckled.

"Catherine?" Henry whispered, shaking his head.

With a huge grin plastered across his face, Brass nodded affirmatively.

"Catherine is fine, she'll do just fine" Hodges began, clearly relieved that his idol wouldn't be coming. "What wrong with Catherine?" He asked his fellow lab rat.

"I'm sorry, but she scares me. She is much worse than Grissom. Much worse."

As much as Brass was enjoying the exchange between Henry and Hodges, he was interrupted by his cell going off. Looking down at it, he saw a text letting him know that Catherine was waiting for him in his office.

"Play nice boys. I'll be right back - your babysitter is here" he joked as he walked out of the room.

Brass knew that the lab geeks were absolutely terrified, and he shouldn't drag this out, but it was funny. Really, _really_ funny. And they could've gotten themselves hurt. So they deserved a little fear.

Rounding the corner into his office, Brass found a perturbed Catherine Willows waiting for him.

"What exactly is so damn important that you had to drag me down here?" Catherine fumed. "I have half the lab out with the flu and I don't have time to be screwing around with some geek pranks."

Holding his hands up in mock defense, Brass started to tell her about how the two geeks ended up at police headquarters. "You are going to love this."

Catherine shot him a disbelieving glare. She had just finished a double and was planning on going home and getting a glass of wine and a long hot bath. Or, maybe just the glass of wine. With half the lab sick and Grissom being, well, _Grissom_, she was dead tired. Catherine was caught up on her paperwork and Grissom's too. If she had known there was this much paperwork and bureaucracy with the supervisor job, she might not have taken it.

Pointing over towards Hodges, Brass said, "Milton Bradley over there, and his sidekick got themselves arrested by setting off a burglar alarm over at the Tropicana."

"They what?" Catherine asked, completely surprised. If she had to pick two people that she would be called out to pick up, it never would have been Hodges and Henry.

"Remember that Lab Rats game prototype that Hodges drove everyone nuts with a few months back?" Catherine nodded, remembering very well that the game was the first thing that brought Grissom back to the team. "Well, it seems Hodges has been in talks with a few investors to bring his game to the market."

"Really?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

"Hey, different strokes," Brass said as he shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway, he somehow got wind of another _Lab Rats_ game that was being featured at the International Conference for Educational Materials over at the Tropicana."

"Huh." Catherine said. This was becoming interesting.

"I dunno, I guess it is a cutthroat biz. So, Hodges throws on his CSI vest and walks right into the ballroom with Henry to try and check out the game. What dumb and dumber over there didn't realize that the vendor in question had armed his table with one of those hotel door alarms that you see on late night TV – it went off and they heard it all the way in the Business Center when they tried to lift up the cover. That's when they called us and here we are."

Catherine started to snicker, thinking of the look on their faces when the alarm went off. They probably looked like the keystone cops crashing into one another.

"This is where it gets better. Brass continued, "It turns out that their _Lab Rats_ game was actually about actual lab rats – instead of those lab rats," pointing to Hodges and Henry. "You need to figure out how to bust the little white rats out of the lab before they become used in some cruel experiment. It really is a neat idea."

"Uh huh. So let me get this straight, they were arrested over a board game?"

"A board game prototype, but yes. The other game meisters were willing to drop all of the charges if our rats apologized and stayed out of the convention. Since you were the supervisor on duty, they are all yours" Brass said with a chuckle.

"Thanks I'm the lucky one," Catherine snickered as she walked out of the office and into the interrogation room where Hodges and Henry were waiting.

"OK guys, let's go, there's a ton of work back at the lab to do," Catherine said.

"Ummm…so Cath, " Hodges started, quickly changing his tact after Catherine shot him a death glare for using that nickname, "Uh _Catherine_, um what are you, uh, what are you going to tell Grissom?" Hodges eked out.

"Who said I'm telling Grissom?" she replied as she turned to walk out, leaving two very stunned, grateful lab rats behind her.

* * *


End file.
